Accidents in which a motor vehicle strikes a pedestrian present a serious safety risk to pedestrians. One type of pedestrian/vehicle accident that is particularly harmful occurs when the vehicle's frontal portion impacts the pedestrian's knee, leg, and/or abdominal region. This frontal impact potentially harms the pedestrian's knee, leg, and/or abdominal region. Additionally, this frontal impact may also elevate and/or flip the pedestrian such that the pedestrian's head strikes the vehicle's hood or windshield. This impact may be fatal if the head suffers trauma.
Various regulatory bodies around the world have established standards that car manufacturers must meet to reduce this type of head injury to pedestrians. The European Union has developed a test standard referred to as EURONCAP EEVC WG17 [2] ACEA[1]. Another standard adopted in Japan is referred to as JNCAP. In one example, the standard requires that a head injury criteria number (HIC#) not exceed 1000. The HIC# is dependent on the force and duration of the impulse experienced by the human head against the vehicle hood in a pedestrian and vehicle impact. During a pedestrian impact the head may experience 80-150 g's (1 g=32 ft/sec2).